Businesspeople From Canada

"If big businesses in concentrated industries truly behaved as oligopolists, one would find higher prices, persistently higher profits, more extensive advertising, and less product innovation among such industries than among unconcentrated industries. However, the facts show either the contrary or insignificant differences. During the period of price inflation from 1965 to 1970, prices rose most in the unconcentrated industries."

"The basic flaw in the distribution of political power among American economic institutions is that producer interests rather than consumer interests tend to dominate and shape the actions of government."

"A second drastic reduction in the political power of American corporate business occurred during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. This crisis shook the faith of the American people in the capability of its industrial and financial leaders, even in the enterprise system itself… Roosevelt sought to make political capital of the popular disillusionment with business; and he made business a scapegoat for errors of federal economic policy that had deepened and prolonged the depression."

"The primary difficulty is the problem of determining what the interest of business is.At any given time, business corporations are split on many national issues; there does not appear to be a monolithic ‘business interest.’ Thus, petroleum companies have opposed liberal oil import quotas, while petrochemical companies have favored them in order to obtain less expensive feedstocks; steel companies have sought restraints upon imports of foreign steel, whereas automobile companies and other large users of steel have fought them; and even with respect to such matters as labor union legislation or antipollution regulation, businessmen are far from presenting a united front because firms in some industries are much more deeply affected than those in other industries."

"Because contributions for charitable and educational purposes were the earliest form of corporate social action, their pattern enables us to test the validity of our theory. Corporate giving was stimulated by federal legislation in 1935 authorizing companies to deduct from taxable income up to 5 percent on account of such gifts."

"World energy problems entered the headlines during 1973 and 1974 when members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) unilaterally quadrupled the price of crude oil. Concurrently, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) cut back production and imposed a temporary embargo on shipments to the United States for political reasons. Suddenly, the industrialized nations awoke to their heavy and increasing dependence upon the abundant supplies of oil from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America."

"A static technology is, however, almost inconceivable. It runs so strongly against established drives in American society as to be practically impossible. So long as we are thinking beings, we will find new ways to increase the productivity of work! The basic point, however, is that economic growth is needed to improve the quality of life. A rise in the GNP, taken by itself, is neither good nor bad. Everything depends upon what kind of production has increased, its costs to society, and who benefits from it. What people now want and need is resource-conserving, pollution-free growth—growth that does not harm the environment and demands less of the earth’s limited resources."

"During the sixty years between 1910 and 1970, the percentage of Americans living in urban areas of 2,500 or more rose from 45.7 to 73.5, and the number of urbanites more than tripled from 42 to 150 million. Urbanization clearly has brought important benefits to people… But this overwhelming tendency of people to concentrate in cities has worsened the environment through crowding, traffic congestion, delays and loss of time, and the over-loading of transportation, marketing and living facilities."

"In a world market that was free of all taxes, royalties, or other governmental constraints, and in which competition was effective, the price of oil would be very low. But the real-world market for oil is dominated by high taxation by the oil-exporting nations, and, since 1972, by concerted efforts of the members of the OPEC to raise prices and to restrict output. Because of effective competition in the industry and the power of OPEC, an international oil company today has relatively little influence on the price of oil to consumers."

"The foreign oil industry was radically affected by World War II. The burden of meeting Allied military requirements fell largely on the United States. Between December of 1941 and August of 1945, nearly 7 billion barrels of oil were produced to meet the requirements of the United States and its allies, almost 6 billion barrels of which came from the United States."

"Motivated partly by the decision to convert its navy from coal to oil, the British government ultimately acquired a major interest in what was then the only oil-producing company in the Middle East."

"How did it come about that only a few international oil companies held concessions to all of this region Middle East at the end of World War II? The answer lies in the bitter struggle of the United States government to gain an entrance for its nationals into the British-dominated Middle East, a struggle which very significantly shaped the structure of the industry as it emerged from World War II."

"The media have tended to emphasize the notion that it is the American company that initiates the bribe, without laying any emphasis on the fact that around the world, for hundreds of years, companies from other countries have been making payments and paying bribes, and that usually the reason they have done so is that they have been solicited or extorted by politicians and government employees. To point this out is not to negate the blame for making the payments and paying the bribes, but simply to make it clear that in many, if not most, cases the payments are made under duress. All other things being equal, an American business manager would rather avoid the costs of bribes."

"India’s political democracy was built on political payments. ‘Speed money,’ shakedowns, and gaining illegal access to wealth—known as ‘black money’—occupied much of the time and energy of the Congress Party while it was ruling India. For generations, corruption of government officials by Indian businessmen has bought official tolerance for hoarding, adulterating, smuggling, and black marketing. Payoffs have been an integral part of Indian business-government relations."

"State ownership of, and control over, much of the means of production has been an essential part of Middle Eastern economies. Unlike Europe, the Middle East did not produce a politically and economically influential bourgeoisie that could act as a countervailing power to the state and its rulers."

"In the black market for political influence, who did what to whom makes much practical difference. But as the scales of justice are seen by the media world, guilt is not evenly assigned. It is useful to note that, in their coverage of political payments by American companies abroad, who initiates a political payment has not seemed to make much difference to the U.S. media—and, until recently, to the Securities and Exchange Commission."

"Because exporting and importing nations have conflicting goals, and the interests of individual countries within each group are not identical, United Nations efforts to regulate the industry have not been successful."

"Until 1837, companies were individually charted by ad hoc legislation. In that year Massachusetts enacted the first general corporation law, which was comparatively stringent in limiting corporate powers. Subsequently, motivated by the philosophy of free enterprise, as well as by competition among the states in charter-mongering, state corporation laws were progressively relaxed."

"Like their counterparts in other Third World nations, Middle Eastern socialist-orientated regimes are inefficient and mismanaged, and they tolerate the use of the political payments by those who must deal with them… The Middle East is one of the world’s most politically volatile regions. Nationalization of foreign investment is frequent, and taxation is high. National rivalries and the unresolved Israeli-Arab conflict contribute to the investor’s political risks."

"The African nations that won their independence from the European colonial powers are, for the most part, uneasy confederations of tribes that are traditional enemies. The primary loyalty of their citizens is not to the state, but to the tribe and its chiefs. The political objective of the dominant tribe is to capture the country’s economic power base, which is the government, and, once it has been seized, to hold on to it."

"Markets work most efficiently and the economy of a country develops best when the price and merits of products and services are the criteria that determine buying and selling—not secret payments to well-placed politicians and government employees."

"While it is true that not everyone in such a country will agree that this is the best way to run the government’s ‘civil service,’ by and large one has to conclude that a system of petty extortion and bribery has become entrenched over time simply because the country and its people have decided that they want it that way."

"World War I created a huge drain on U.S. oil. Fear of inadequate domestic reserves caused the U.S. government to urge its nationals to develop foreign sources and to support them in this effort. But American oil companies were unable to obtain exploration concessions in the Middle East and other areas because of the political influence of the British, Dutch, and French empires. The United States called for an ‘open door’ policy. Ultimately, after prolonged and stubborn British opposition, an agreement was made in 1928…"

"A foreign oil industry consisting mainly of private multinational companies competing in open markets has unique values to the Western World. Profit-motivated firms have proven to be better adapted to accept long-term risks and to allocate investment multinationally than have politically motivated government agencies."

"In many foreign nations, especially those in the Third World, political and social evolution has been such as to produce a monolithic state that lacks any clear division between a public and a private sector. Indeed, throughout much of the world today, official political ideology is hostile to the concepts of the private-enterprise market economy."

"One hallmark of a competitive market is that new firms are able to—and do—enter it… The key economic consideration is the relative difficulty of overcoming the barriers to entry, which can be measured by the advantages of established firms in the industry over potential entrants. In general, the relative difficulty of entry into any industry is determined by the amount of capital required for an efficient scale of operations,…"

"Political payments by multinational companies in foreign nations have long been a pervasive practice; but a cultural taboo against discussion of the subject, combined with a lack of public information, has created a vacuum in public understanding."

"The public has come to suspect that bribery of high foreign political figures by American companies is rampant. Yet the number of proven cases of bribery involving misconduct by high officials of foreign governments is very small. And many instances of misconduct are more extortion than bribery. The truth, however, is always hard to discover because of the clandestine nature of the transactions."

"In consequence, the civil services of many Third World nations operate as feudal baronies, exploiting those with whom they deal. In the absence of institutions or organized groups capable of restraining official venality, the employees and officials of these bureaucracies possess virtually untrammeled power for obtaining personal wealth."

"The Soviet Union, as might be expected, conducted a ceaseless campaign to persuade the less-developed countries to nationalize their petroleum industries, by deprecating the record of private oil enterprises and extolling the virtues of governmental petroleum monopolies."

"During the recent nineteen-year period from 1950 to 1969, corporate profits, both before and after taxes, formed a shrinking proportion of the national income."

"Because some conglomerate, and other, mergers have proved to be unsound and failed. It has been proposed that government should prohibit such mergers. But there is no feasible way to identify bad mergers in advanced; only time and the test of market competition reveal them."

"After World War II, foreign government levies on the incomes of private oil companies were progressively and substantially increased. This was true of both royalty and income tax rates… Later, the 50 percent rate of taxing foreign oil income was materially increased in many nations… Colombia’s oil law of 1962 changed the tax rate to 68 percent of net income from production. Contract agreements with Indonesia provided that 60 percent of profits would go to the government… The oil companies were unable to pass on all the increased costs per barrel to petroleum consumers after 1957, because of the redundancy of supplies."

"The postwar tendency of foreign governments to intervene directly in the regulation of petroleum production and pricing contrasts sharply with the laissez-faire policies followed up to World War II. Formerly, rates of output and prices were almost entirely within the discretion of the private oil companies."

"It is widely believed that big business firms collectively own the preponderance of America’s wealth and are steadily expanding their share. The facts show the contrary. Corporate business owns about 28 percent of the tangible wealth of the United States, and its share has not changed much during the past fifty years. The bulk of the nation’s tangible wealth is held by the household and government sectors of the economy and is not employed in profit-seeking enterprise, corporate or noncorporate. …If the character of a society were to be designated by its major wealth-holding institution, the United States could more appropriately be described as a ‘household state’ than a ‘corporate state’."

"Foreign oil companies suffered major expropriations of their property during the postwar period, usually without payment of full compensation to the private owners. These episodes—the most significant were in Algeria, Ceylon, Cuba, Egypt , Iran, Libya, and Peru—followed by many years the first major oil industry expropriation by the Bolshevik government of Russia in 1918 and a second major expropriation of foreign oil properties by the Mexican government in 1938. All illustrated the great latent power of governments over the international oil companies and the reality of the political risks inherent in the industry."

"Still another trend supports greater emphasis upon the social responsibilities of business firms and greater interest in the interactions between business and public policies. The great problems of contemporary society, such as environmental pollution, waste disposal, unemployment, poverty, urban renewal, and mass transit, are most likely to be solved by combining the organizational discipline of the action-oriented business corporation with the legal and taxing powers of government. Private corporations will more frequently be used to attain public purposes. At the same time, the public has made it clear that it will no longer tolerate the thrusting of private cost upon itself."

"The competition of government oil companies with private enterprises was often buttressed by monopoly privileges, public preferences, low-priced capital, special tax benefits, or freedom from the commercial obligation to earn a normal return on investment. These government companies, regardless of whether they had complete or partial monopolies of oil production and trade in their own countries, were part of the structure of the foreign oil industry. They could not be dismissed as ‘noncompetitive’ with private oil enterprises."

"A fourth factor underlying the merger wave of the 1960’s was the steep rise in the load of corporate income taxation since World War II. In 1940, the effective federal corporate income-tax rate was 27 percent; in 1968, it was 50 percent. Rates of state and local taxes on business incomes have risen commensurately."

"Expropriation and nationalization of private oil properties, and the growth of government oil companies, extended public ownership in oil. However, the primary result of postwar government petroleum policies was to enhance competition in the industry. Governments encouraged new entrants, which diffused the structure of the industry. The number of competing firms increased, and the market positions of the largest international oil companies declined, reducing concentration. As the entrants developed more concession areas, the growth of petroleum supply relative to demand accelerated, intensifying competition in both crude oil and product markets, and depressing prices and rates of return on investment."

"The postwar burgeoning of oil enterprises throughout the world wrought important changes in the structure of the foreign oil industry. Competitors multiplied, concentration of the industry was reduced, and the market positions of the ‘seven largest’ companies shrank."

"The 4,400 business corporations that disappeared by merger during 1968 were a small number compared with the 12,000 that disappeared by failure, or the 207,000 new corporations that were formed. Even the $43 billion in securities exchanged in mergers that year were only 3.3 percent of the market value of corporate securities."

"During 1968, more than forty-four hundred companies disappeared by mergers involving an estimated $43 billion in securities—an all-time record. In this tidal wave of mergers, which subsequently crested and receded, conglomerate firms accounted for either a substantial or a preponderant fraction, depending upon the definition of ‘conglomerate’ adopted."

"Before World War II, the United States Gulf and the Caribbean were the foreign world’s primary sources of crude oil. Eastern Hemisphere consumption was relatively small and yet its crude oil production supplied less than half of its petroleum needs."

"Since 1950, American enterprises have invested in virtually every part of the world. Their annual exports in 1976 were more than $117 billion, and their foreign investments in book value were about $133 billion. This unparalleled international movement of goods, capital, technology, and managerial resources has had both successes and failures, but the former have by far outweighed the latter."

"Today, multinational business is under attack by socialist and other critics on a wide spectrum of issues. New charges that multinational firms corrupt the officials of foreign governments have been added to the litany of criticism Many governments, especially those of the Third World, have taken or threaten to take punitive and restrictive actions against foreign companies. Such measures would impede international investment, slow down economic progress, and damage the economic welfare of all countries concerned."

"The Multinational corporationis, among other things, a private ‘government,’ often richer in assets and more populous in stockholders and employees than some of the nation-states in which it carries on business. It is simultaneously a ‘citizen’ of several nation-states, owning obedience to their laws and paying taxes to their treasuries, yet having its own objectives and being responsive to a top management that may be located in another nation. Small wonder that some critics see in the multinational corporation an instrument of irresponsible private economic power, or even an agent of economic ‘imperialism’ by its home country. Others view it as an international carrier of advanced management science and technology, an agent for the global transmission of cultural values, bringing closer the day when a common set of ideals will unite mankind."

"The multinational corporation is leading Europe toward a more egalitarian, homogeneous, and democratic society. While traditionalists will deplore the gradual blurring of class and national distinctions, such segmentations cannot in the end withstand the onslaught of technological and economic changes."

"Private business investment is inherently superior to governmental aid as an instrument of development because it combines transfers of managerial and technical assistance with that of capital."

"The largest corporations, like companies of lesser size, are a changing rather than a static group. Their annual turnover rate reflects the rise or decline of management and the vagaries of business fortune. Of the hundred largest industrial corporations in 1909, only thirty-six remained on this list in 1948. And, of the top hundred companies in 1948, only sixty-five continued to hold this ranking in 1968."